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新华网8月11日电 据科技博客网站Gizmodo报道，通过加拿大北部岛群的“西北航道”架设一条由伦敦通往东京的电信线缆，在很长时间内都是不可能实现的，因为海陆全年都处于冰封的状态。不过现在，由于气温上升，冰盖在八月到十月之间消失。一家尚在筹建中的加拿大电信公司打算在这个空档里布设一条16000公里长的互联网电缆。
“北极圈光纤”(Arctic Fibre)是一家总部位于加拿大多伦多的公司。他们很快将开展对一条水下线路的勘探工作。这条线路预期通过英国和日本之间的几个点作为桥梁，将两端进行连接，并且避开现有路基的光纤数据线路所经过的中东等动荡地区。规模较小的类似工程最近将俄罗斯与克里米亚半岛连接在了一起。
根据新闻聚合网站BuzzFeed的报道，现在，电信巨头们仍在就多余的数据连接问题进行着谨慎的讨论，因为2008年地中海的光纤受损事故曾经让整个亚洲的通讯减慢乃至中断，而且通过中东的线路可能成为有价值的袭击目标。
北极圈光纤的计划就能够避免这样的情况发生。除了位于英格兰和日本的终端，以及加拿大的锚点之外，整条线路几乎完全在水下铺设。当然，这需要细致的勘察以寻找到一条线路，保证其不会被石头、潮汐或是其他东西所损坏。
这项价值6.2亿美金的计划还会给美国阿拉斯加北部和加拿大的部分地区带来稳定的互联网连接。这些地方的连接目前尚不太稳定。
接下来的几个月，水下勘查工作就会开始，侧扫声呐、数码相机、电磁探测器和岩石采样设备都会被用到。过去，因为全年冰封，这样的勘探没有办法进行。
北极圈光纤CEO道格·康宁安姆在解释这项计划的时候没有回避这一问题。他直言：“正是因为气候变化使得我们的计划如今成为了可能。”
译者：梁爽
百度新闻与新华网国际频道合作稿件，转载请注明出处。The Trans-Arctic Internet Cable Project Made Possible by Climate Change Robert Sorokanich
Running a telecom cable from London through the Northwest Passage to Tokyo was, for a very long time, impossible: The sea route was solid ice year-round. Now, thanks to rising temperatures, the ice disappears from August to October, and a Canadian telecom startupwants to thread a 10,000-mile internet cable through that gap.
Toronto-based Arctic Fibre will soon start surveying the underwater route that would connect the UK with Japan and several spots in between, diversifying the globe"s fiber optic data network without relying on land-based cables going through volatile regions of the Middle East, as current connections do. Similar projects, on a much smaller scale, have recently been completed to connect Russia and Crimea.
As BuzzFeed reports, telecoms and corporations are clamoring for redundant data connections, still wary of the trouble caused in 2008 when disruptions to the Mediterranean Sea cable slowed or stopped communications across Asia. But routes through the Middle East could make tempting targets for disruption.
The Arctic Fibre project would avoid that exact scenario: Aside from its termini in England and Japan, and an anchor point in Canada, the cable would run almost entirely undersea. This, of course, will require elaborate surveying to find a path where the cable won"t get snagged by rocks, pulled by tides, or crushed by rock slides.
The $620 million project will also bring internet connections to northern Alaska and regions of Canada where data is often unreliable.
Undersea surveying will begin in the next few months, using side-scan sonar, digital cameras, electromagnetic probes, and core samples to plot a route across the sea floor. In the past, such a surveying trip wouldn"t have been feasible due to year-round ice. Doug Cunningam, Arctic Fibre"s CEO, didn"t mince words when he explained to BuzzFeed why this project is now feasible: "It is made possible by climate change." [Arctic Fibre via BuzzFeed]
